Children of the Force ZERO: The Rising Tide
by Master Solo
Summary: PNJO AU Round Robin. Jedi Master Levi Varss, a war hero of the Galactic Alliance, is once again called upon to deal with another pirate problem in these socalled Pirate Wars which the Galactic Alliance is tied up in.
1. Chapter 1: The Calling

**Title : **Children of the Force ZERO - The Rising Tide  
**Authors : **  
- BrantFlir (The Lance Flir Series ; The Jax Ores Series)  
- CourtneySolo (n/a as of now)  
- DCWiz (n/a as of now)  
- Laguna (n/a as of now)  
- -RebelScum- (n/a as of now)  
- SilSolo (n/a as of now)  
**Notes : **The Galaxy you know. The characters you don't.  
**Summary : **One year prior to the events of **Children of the Force I**, another adventure took place. One that would shape things to come. Jedi Master Levi Varss, a war hero of the Galactic Alliance, is once again called upon to deal with another pirate problem in these so-called Pirate Wars which the Galactic Alliance is tied up in. To do this, he musters a striek force to spearhead this attack on a Hutt Slave Ring in the Outer Rim. 

He inlists the help of his former apprentice; Jax Ores, a powerful Jedi who left the order becuase his ideals didn't match with those of the Orders; an ex-Jedi, Antarian Ranger; Krista Fett, adopted daughter of Boba Fett; a Jedi, and a Galactic Alliance Intellegence Agent.

**CHAPTER ONE - _The Calling_**

The howling wind and biting sand battered the battle armor worn by a young human male as he walked through the storm to his prey, which tried insanely to scramble up the smooth rock ledge. The quarry, a thirty-year old retired mercenary, had double-crossed the Sector Rangers so many times he had gotten a bounty put on his head so fat that he had aroused the interest of most of the bounty hunters in the Galaxy.

"Please, I'm worth more alive!" the man begged, and reached for his credit chip, "How much am I worth? I'll pay you double!"

"You're worth enough dead," the man said coldly from behind the reflective face of the battle helm.

The Blade X Blaster Pistol rose into the air, and the safety was clicked off. The Kashyyyk wood crafted handle was glossy in the gloved hand. Then his trigger finger haltered, and the conflict swarmed through the bounty hunter's head.

The Sector Rangers want him dead...But is it right to kill him? It's not the Jedi way! But I'm not a Jedi anymore...

The blaster bolt rang out and echoed through the canyon over the roar of the storm. But the bounty hunter no longer heard the storm. Only his own breath and the thumping of his heart. But then he regained control over himself, and the cold shadow returned. He had completed his job.

The ex-Jedi cut off a piece of the man's flesh, took DNA samples, and a picture of the body. All the evidence he needed to give the Sector Rangers.

By nightfall he had reached Mos Espa, and had returned to his personal starship, the Imperial.

The Imperial was a design created by a sister corporation of Imperial Munitions, Imperial Shipyard Designs. It was a VT49 Armed Transport designed to outrun anything it couldn't outfight and outfight anything it couldn't outrun. The stock weaponry of this thirty meter armed transport was two turreted heavy laser cannons, three general-purpose warhead launchers, and a Tractor Beam/Repulsor. The design was then subcontracted out to Kuat Drive Yards and Fondor Shipyards to be constructed.

But the Imperial was no stock-armed transport, with ion cannons and a retractable light turbolaser along with many other hidden surprises of a bounty hunter. It had been a gift and a favor from the Sector Rangers when he had abandoned the New Jedi Order.

"Its done Julius," Jax told his contact within the Sector Ranger Hunters' Division over the holonet, "I sent you all the evidence as well."

"Very good. You've been credited 21,000 Galactic Credit Standards into your account, with the other 4,000 going to your Guild, and then I've also credited 1,000 credits to your account for your standard pay. Will you need any fuel or supplies before you leave Tatooine? I can arrange company expenses for you," the ranger told him.

"No, that's fine. But I have to go, Julius, I've got an emergency call coming in from Geonosis," Jax explained and then cut the conversation and opened up the incoming call, "Jax Ores, here." 

"Hello, Jay," a familiar voice said over the comm. unit.

"Levi?" Jax cried, putting the call onto his holoscreen, and the fivety year old face of his former mentor in the ways of the Force appeared, "What do you want?"

The Jedi Master sighed, and then looked up, "I need you, Jax. I've been assigned a mission that I can't do on my own, and you're the only one I'd trust to be by my side in this. Our shorthand will come in handy."

"You must realize, Master Varss, that my time is money, and that I can't afford to be off on some mission with you while I could be making money catching criminals for the Rangers or the Guild," Jax explained.

"You will be well-paid. But I'm gonna need you on this op," Jedi Master Levi Varss nodded to his former padawan.

"100,000 Galactic Credit Standards per week," Jax named his price.

"85,000 plus all expenses," Varss offered.

"Deal. Now, what's the op?"

"I can't say now, but it involves taking down a slave trade and criminal base," Varss explained. 

"With just us? Are you planning on an assault or an infiltration?"

"Infiltration."

"We'll need more people," Jax sighed.

"I'm getting s strike team together. Do you have someone in mind?"

"Yeah, Rorworr," Jax explained.

"Fine, bring him on board. He'll be good on this mission. Now, I'll meet you on Geonosis at the old meeting spot in three standard days," Varss replied, and the communication ended...

His eyes were soft, friendly, warm. His manner and voice soothed her, taking the edge from her anxiety. He could be running from anyone, it didn't matter any more. She felt a thrill through her body; shallow breath and a flutter of the heart every third day when she would arrive at her office to find a flower waiting, bright and beautiful, with the secret location of their next meeting attached. She pulled the ribbon from her pocket and looked at it again.

"1740, Rartesh Cantina."

She checked her chrono. 1755. He was late; had something happened? She knew of his discomfort with the numerous bounty hunters and other opportunists lurking on Beros. Even the admittedly powerless Berosian authorities were hunting him, though h'd never told her why. What did it matter? He was a good man and he loved her. She could see how his features softened, how his muscles relaxed and how not once did he look over his shoulder when they were together. No matter the danger, he would not leave Beros without her. 

Suddenly a black-gloved hand grasped her firmly on the shoulder, pushing her into the chair, while a second hand covered her mouth. Her eyes glanced around desperately, but nobody in the crowded cantina seemed to notice or care, and she quivered with fright. She felt hot breath on her neck as her assailant leaned down to whisper his threats.

"Were you followed?"

Her heart leapt. It was him! The glove moved an inch from her mouth. 

"Blaine!"

"Quiet," he said, softly. "I need you to come with me, tonight."

Her mind raced; was he serious? She had told him many times that her father was facing the wrath of Boulbog the Hutt after a business deal gone bad. She could not leave him alone to such an ordeal.

"But my father-" she began.

"I'm taking care of it," he interrupted, his voice soothing. "Don't you trust me?" 

"Of course I do," she said.

"Good," he said. "Brace yourself."

Before she knew what was happening, Blaine grabbed her tight, pulling her sharply upward and out of the seat. His free hand moved from her shoulder to the table and he jerked it into the air, overturning it with a violent crash. The attention of the entire cantina was on them now as he pulled a blaster.

"Business," he said calmly, almost apologetically. "Just business."

The cantina's patrons returned to their drinks and conversation. She hadn't expected anyone to help her. Beros was legendary for its lax legal system and had long been a haven for pirates and criminals. Sights such as this were not so uncommon in local cantinas. They backed toward the door, and then he pushed her into the street.

"Run," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the night.

"What are you doing?" she shouted, but Blaine did not stop to explain himself, he simply ran through the backstreets with her close at his heels. They ran for what seemed an age, finally arriving in familiar streets, stopping breathless outside her house.

"Why..?" 

"It needed to look convincing," he said, matter-of-factly. "Your father, I need to see him, now." 

She looked at the ground, overcome by indecision.

"He's not here," she said.

Her father, in truth, was inside the house, but he had falsified travel arrangements that placed him in the core worlds, and not at his home address. It was part of a large scheme to keep the Hutt Enforcers off his trail long enough for him to earn back the money he owed, and avoid paying them in his own blood. Blaine looked at her with tenderness, his face softened in the moonlight.

"It's alright," he said soothingly. "I know he's here, I've come to make a deal with him. My business here has paid me a large enough profit that I can help your father. Word will spread that you have been kidnapped and the local crime syndicates will believe it was arranged by the Hutts. They will call off their search for your father in the short term thinking your kidnap into slavery has satisfied his debt, giving you and your father the perfect chance to escape."

"You really think this will work?" She stared at him urgently, studying his features. She had guessed once that he couldn't be older than thirty, though he had never told her his age. The lines etched in his face, however, told that he had endured more than most do in a lifetime. 

"I've been planning this for weeks," he said. "The kidnapping needed look authentic and be public for word to spread. I'm sorry if I frightened you, but don't you see? We can finally be together, Selphina. I want you to marry me. I love you..."

He pulled her close and kissed her. She felt a rush of warmth and joy. 

"I love you," she said, breathless, kissing his forehead. "I love you so much."

Selphina entered the eleven digit security code, registered her retinal scan and ordered the doors open. The security system was elaborate, but necessary to protect her father from the Hutt's agents. She did not turn on any lights in the house, and simply took Blaine's hand, leading him down the stairs to the basement, where her father had been working on his mysterious deal. Her father had never told her any details of this deal, merely stating that it would see them wealthy enough to be free of their debt to the Hutts. He had insisted that she continue her regular routine so as not to arouse suspicion. Selphina's stolen hours with Blaine had been an exciting and secret diversion.

"Father," she said. "This is Blaine, my... my fianc?" She looked up at Blaine with a shy smile, and he nodded encouragingly in the dim light. "He can help us with the Hutts, he wants to."

Selphina's father was sitting at a small desk in the darkness, his face illuminated by a computer display. "I won't accept charity," he said. "I don't care who this man is, you should not have told him of my situation. This deal will make us rich and get Boublog and his mercenaries off our backs forever. I can't abandon things now, and I can't afford the luxury of trusting this... this stranger."

"I knew you'd say as much," Blaine said, releasing Selphina's hand and moving a step forward. "Tell me though, old man, do the Jedi know of this debt to the Hutts, or do they think you're simply a good informant? That you'd consider keeping information from a Jedi tells me you're desperate, not to mention stupid, and you clearly realise you're a liability to them or you wouldn't have bothered. I don't think they'll be enamoured with such... selfish motivations." 

The old man looked up at him fiercely, and Selphina felt her heart freeze a moment. _Jedi? Mission? Her father had never mentioned these things to her, and how did Blaine know so much?_

"How do you know all that?" her father said aggressively.

"Let's just say I have business to conduct with the Jedi myself," Blaine said, flat and equally aggressive. "And mine is a little more important than yours." 

Selphina barely had time to register the sudden threatening change in his tone, the stiffness of his posture. She'd not seen him like that before. By the time a cry had left her lips, Blaine had already drawn his blaster and fired, striking her father in the chest. Blaine stared at the body a moment, confirming a clean kill before turning his attention on Selphina. His face was cold and emotionless. Frightened tears filled her eyes.

"Why...?" was all she could say.

"It was the only way," he said, and showing no remorse pulled the trigger again. Selphina's body fell lifeless to the floor.

Boulbog the Hutt had once called him 'Chameleon'. He could become anything, deceive anyone. It had been nothing to gain this woman's trust, win her affection and love, all of it to find, kill and take the position of this man, her father. The handsome bounty offered by the Hutts did not entice him; now there was nobody left standing between him and the Jedi.

A grim satisfaction crossed his thoughts for a moment before it was suppressed under a dark emotional cloak.

A striking 20 year old, Krista Fett, walked briskly down the cold corridors pondering her past. At birth, her biological parents had abandoned her outside a local pub on Corellia. Boba Fett , after escaping the belly of the sarlacc, had happened upon her that some night after the Vong Invasion. He had adopted her and raised her as a bounty huntress. Around her preschool years, he had discovered Krista's ability to use the Force. Krista smiled. _Good times_, she thought. Boba, wishing to continue her training, took her to Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy. There she had met Jax Ores. _Jax_. How would he react to seeing her again? After all, it HAD been almost 5 years. Would he still continue to be her best friend? Or would he persue to be something more, as they had almost done 5 or 6 years ago...

"Miss Fett! Please, wait!" A young pilot called from down the hall. Krista turned around and waited for him. 

"Yes, Officer?" She teased. The yound man blushed. 

"You dropped your locket on the way out of the briefing room. Here it is," the Tatooine officer panted as he handed her the worn locket.

"Thank you for returning this to me," she replied, fastening it around her neck. _How foolish can I be? _Krista chided herself. She had nearly lost her most treasured possession. It was a birthday present from Jax. He had given it to her for her 14th birthday ... back before they had thought about possibly making thier relationship something more. _It just wasn't fair!_ She mused, thinking back on those long lost yuears with Jax. The dance at the Temple...The fights they fought during the wars...That cold night on the Mon Calamari beach...

But as she boarded the shuttle for the destination, she resolved not to let anyone pst her guard. Jedi do not fall in love ... or used to not, back before the New Jedi Order was founded. But at the back of her mind, Krista somehow knew that at least ONE man would creep through her guard. However, she knew for sure that she would always be her Daddy's Little Girl...


	2. Chapter 2: Struggle of Hears

**CHAPTER TWO - Struggle of Hearts**

(Co-Authorship by CourtneySolo Krista Fett and BrantFlir Jax Ores) 

Space was an endless sea of stars. A peaceful ocean... until the sentinents came and turned it into a boundless battlefield and graveyard. This was true of Geonosis as well, for in its asteroid ring drifted debris from battles of old. Skeletal bodies of old wedge-shaped troop transports and ring-like cargo haulers spun silently, their dead still inside many of them. Jax Ores coldly took this in as the _Imperial_ fell out of hyperspace and he made his way towards the red planet that hung below him, his craft cuttign speedily through space towards the Geonosian Battle Arena, known to Jax and his former mentor Levi Varss as the Old Meeting Spot, which had gotten his name after Jax, Varss, Ex-Jedi and Antarian Ranger Krista Fett, and a moltly group of scouts and soldiers- such as the Wookiee Rorworr and the Sector Ranger Joran Hoarce- used as a hidden base during the Ossus Conflict of the Pirate Wars.

Behind him, plugged into a computer interface, was Jax's astromech, T3-M4. T3-M4 was an ancinet astromech, more than a thousand years old, from the time of the Mandalorian and Sith Wars. Jax had found T3-M4 in the Unknown Regions along with a ship it identified as the _Ebon Hawk_, and had taken the ship and the droid to his private estate on Naboo where he upgraded both the ship and the droid to modern standards and higher, and had taken the droid wit him on his newest ship. "T3, prepare to land," Jax instructed and dived into the planet's atmosphere. "Trinity, whats the situation planetside?" 

Suddenly the holoboard next to Jax lit up with a woman in her twenties. Trinity was a brand new piece of AI created by himself, T3-M4, and his Sector Ranger friend Joran Hoarce. Trinity could interface with any and every computer, including Jax's armor, communicator, chrono, and much more. She could also operate every part of the ship when she was in its main computer and even be transmitted via radio waves to different computers rather than physical transportation to it. "Geonosian patrols have spotted and cleared us and we are free to head to the colliseum." 

"Good," Jax smiled, and turned his ship masterfully around and set her down on the red sand and dirt of the arena's floor. "T3, stay with the ship. Trinity, you're with me." With a swipe of his hand through Trinity's holo she uploaded herself into his armor's computer system and via a computer implant, directly into Jax's brain. _'Home sweet home. Wow, you sure you don't want me to organize this thing you call a mind?'_

"Yes," Jax smiled as he walked from the ramp and into the hot sun. Taking a deep breath he made lifted the hood of his old Jedi cloak over his face and walked swiftly into one of the gates and towards the comman center Team Molten Rock, Master Varss' strike force during the Ossus Conflict, has erected years earlier. As he neared its breifing room, the room directly through the neterance, he heard the voice of Levi Varss speakign to the strike force he had assembled.

"Do you understand your mission, Krista?" Levi asked soothingly as Jax entered the room and leaned against the door assembly. Levi's eyes only momentarally looked up at the newcomer and then returned to the buetiful girl a year younger than Jax nad had streiking blue eyes and lovely brown hair. She was dressed in simple Jedi robes, and if Jax hadn't known she was an Antarian Ranger now he woulc have said she was a Jedi, which she used to be.

"Of course, Master Varss," Krista smiled and nodded at the older Jedi. A lump rose for a second in Jax's throat. He hadn't known she was goign to be on this mission. A thousand images flashed through his head. Their yougn romance as teenagers, the trips to Mon Calamari and Coruscant and the lake near the Yavin Temple. The first kiss under the sunset on a Mon Calamari beach... He quickly pushed them away and regained his solid steel composure. The Jedi Master's gaze then moved to Jax.

"And our final member of our strike force is here. Everyone, welcome Jax Ores, fellow Jedi and licensed bounty hunter. He will be joining Boulbog's pirate organization as a bounty hunter and will gian trust until the time comes when we will destroy the slave ring. Jax, I belive you already know Krista, Rorworr, and young Jedi Cay Sunrider," Varss said, referring to the buetiful woman, the hairy Wookiee scout, and the yougn Alderaanian boy of only thirteen years sittign nearby. Cray was Jedi apprentice to the Jedi Knight Tantalum, and Cray has strong Force talents and was rumored to someday become one of the order's most powerful Jedi with Kyp Durron and Jax himself, for Jax was said to be as powerful as Anakin Solo, and was quickly gaining power in the force as he used it in different ways as in bounty hunting. "The ones you don't know: Lynne Hacar, a Galactic Alliance intellegence officer, and Gaf Orn, a friend of mine's contact who was lookign for a Job."  
Jax nodded at the two new people, and then to the rest of the room, where he saw Krista madly trying to catch his eye, but he ignored her coldly and focused on Varss. "So, once the team is in place we shall slowly turn Goldran the Hutt, the administrator of Boulbog's slave ring, and then we will shut it down. Completly. Do we have any questions or comments?"  
Jax shook his head slightly, causing his hood to fall, and then raised a hand. "Levi, i have arranged to have some friends from my bounty hunting guild be nearby to act as a failsafe in case something goes wrong anf we need to be extracted, but there is one problem with this plan: how do we all get in system and join the gang withouit lookign suspicious? It seems that a horde of newcomers would be strange and arose questions."  
Varss nodded and then answered the question. "Our team scout Rorworr has found a transport that will be passign through this system tomarrow that is carrying new recruits. It will stop here to refuel and take on any recruits it can find, which will be all of us besides you and Rorworr, who will travel directly there to join Goldran. You will stay unknown from the people we recruit until the time comes. When the rest of us arrive we shall rendverous with an informant who has information on the Hutts. This informant's alias is Fringer. Once we get his information we will decide how to continue. Anythign else? No? Alright, dismissed. The suites adjacent to this room are ready, you may go and stay there tonight."  
Jax was the first to leave the room, and as he left he saw Krista hurring towards him, once again tryign to catch his eye. Once again he ignored her. Jax wasn't too keen on facing her after he had abondoned her alogn with the Order without so much as a goodbye...

Jax rounded a corner and almost jumped in surprise when he came face to face with a beautiful woman who had just been behind him not two minutes ago. Instead, he stopped. It was hard to keep his composure; after all, his teenage self would have broken into a grin to hide his surprise. But his old self was gone now, only dwelling inside of him in a place that no one could see. "What do you want?" He asked dryly. Krista pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "Well?'

"A 'hello' for starters-"

"'Hello',"

"-and an explanation."

"Well, okay, I should've known you weren't paying attention. Your objective is-"

"-you know what I mean, Jax," Krista interrupted.

"Oh?" He broke into a grin. He couldn't think of a monotone response, besides, this was too much fun.

"Oh?" Krista teased back, allowing a radiant smile to creep onto her beautiful features. The features he remembered so vividly from his teenage years. The features that his fingers used to trace …

Jax stopped thinking about the old days immediately as he realized that he found a part of him wanting to run back to her, images of that sunset on the beach coming back to him. The locket. The kiss. But instead he merely set his jaw and walked swiftly past her. Krista looked confused at his change of attitude.

"Jax, I know what you're going through," she sighed.

He turned around. "How could you possibly know what I'm going through?"

She stepped towards him slowly. "I know how it feels to want to know who you are. I know about the feeling of trying to change into something that sounds like who you thought you were. That's why I'm an Antarian Ranger," Jax scowled outwardly, but inwardly his mind was awhirl. Could she really know his new self well enough to have sensed his conflict? "But, Jax, mistreating your friends is no way to solve it. You have to let your soul and the Force do the work," she took a deep breath. "That's why I'm considering joining the Jedi again."

Jax's eyes widened, anger flashing through him as he turned back towards her. "And what do you know! I'm not searching for my self! I've _found_ myself! And the Force? What power does the Force really have? It didn't help me save my sister! Or my parents! Or Rebecca! No, the Force is merly a tool to use as its wielder sees fit. And what is this? Do you know what I went through to get us away from the Order? Even after what you did? No, Krista, you are the one who needs to find yourself. The Force isn't in control, you are!

"I was hoping to ask for your forgiveness about how I treated you when we were younger, but it's clear to me now that you don't intend to give it," she began to walk off. He let her go.

"You're a good friend, Krista. Or at least you were," he called after her. She stopped. Jax's heart jumped. _She stopped_! Once again Jax pushed his feelings away, falling into coldness, and then he grunted, "You go follow the Force, I'll follow my own way!"

"What was that?" Krista demanded.

"Nothing…"

"Uh-huh," 

"No, seriously,"

"Is your 'new self' gonna let Jax return?"

"What's wrong with my new self?" Jax grinned.

"Your old self was 'Jax', the guy who had great potential in becoming someone special to the galaxy and to me. Your new self is a 'Jackass', no potential that I can see, and … stingy. Your new self is self centered. You only think about yourself, and you only attempt to make the galaxy a better place to make yourself look better!" Krista stated, a single tear began to swell in her right eye. It made the human part of Jax hurt. For only a second, but once again he became under his own control.

"Just looking out for number one, baby."

"Don't call me that! You need something Jax."

"And what is that?"

"You need more women in your life," Krista smiled, hoping he would take the bait, but then fell into dispare and he answered.

"Who says I don't have one already," he growled and stalked off towards his room.

---

Night came swiftly as Jax lay on his back, thinking of the fight he had just had. The past flashing through his mind. The beach… The locket… The kisses… The love… Then their ditching the order. The look on his former master's face as his former student, perhaps the most powerful Jedi since Anakin Solo and Anakin Skywalker, threw away the Force. The scowling of Jedi Master Ben Skywalker as he watched his fears come to life…. The fight he had just had…

Maybe you should apologize? Trinity offered, seeing his thoughts through his mental uplink.

Jax sighed and rolled over in bed and sighed as he closed his eyes. "Goodnight, Trinity."

-

Krista made it to his room finally, ready to try and get through his thick skull again. As she took a deep breath before she knocked she absently fingered her pendant, and then moved her hand to knock but stopped when she heard something.

Jax rolled over in bed and sighed, and then Krista heard soemthing that made her heart crack and her eyes stream. "Goodnight, Trinity."

The words he had said earlier echoed through her mind as she ran towards her room in tears… _'Who says I don't already have one?'_


	3. Chapter 3: A Jedi's Calling

Chapter 3: A Jedi's Calling

In a moderately furnished hangar of a quiet, Mid-Rim world, a large, chunky man with wild and yet tamed locks of golden hair approached his battered ship. Although he could never be classified as obese, he defined width and cast an ominous shadow wherever he went. The bulky size showed up every other generation in his father's side of the family and in his basic framework, he resembled his late cousin, Raynar Thul, except that massive amounts of workout and muscle building had long ago distinguished him from the first Jedi Knight of the family.

The man was in his forties, though few could tell because of the ruggedness that was written all over his skin and his bulging muscles, which he almost never bothered to hide beneath sleeves. Although he was affluent enough to afford quality clothing, the man resorted to simple tank top with torn sleeves, a pair of flexible, green trousers, and a cheap but practical utility belt. On the rare occasions involving his wealthy family's affairs, he would permit a crimson tank top instead of the usual white, a pair of yellow trousers, and a violet belt around his waistline, but on that day, he was obviously going about his normal business.

As the Jedi strode toward his ship, his flowing Jedi cloak swept and mopped the already shiny, durasteel floor beneath his well-paced steps, dancing to the thumps of the dull, black boots.

"Cousin Tant! What did the Council say?" Asked an enthusiastic, teenage boy as he ran at near lightspeed to catch up with the older man.

"For the millionth time, Cay Sunrider, I'm not your cousin." The man growled a low, menacing growl without altering his pace or destination. The very movement of his jaws and his arms suddenly drew emphasis on the fat that was caked over all the hunks of muscles, from the massive strip that hung from his cheekbones and his jaws to the layers that covered his already thick arms to the belly that rolled menacingly from above his belt. To those who never glimpsed a second glance at the man, the belt seemed to be the only thing holding off a flood of fat that threatened to come from his massive belly at any nanosecond. He added. "And to you, I'm Master Thul. I don't know where you got that cutesy nickname, but it stops here."

The boy, who contrasted the older male in every imaginable way except for hair color, whimpered slightly as he almost stopped, the hurt evident in his jade-green eyes, which were welling with tears. The older Jedi ignored the child and continued before the boy could protest. "This business does not concern you. Go back to your studies."

"But you're my Master. Aren't you supposed to take me with you on your missions?" Asked the slim, almost too thin boy, his large, green yes welling with hope.

"Not this one. I've told you before; I only took you to save your hide from embarrassment. My father would have disowned me if your frail mother shed a single tear over you. Now go back before I make you." The large man replied gruffly as he stopped to face the child that's finally managed to catch up with the bulky Jedi.

"Thanks." The frightened boy bowed his head slightly in resignation and then added wistfully. "So that means you do think of my mother as your aunt. That makes us cousins."

"No, that does not!" The man's voice was raised to a booming roar as he began to unleash his shortening temper on the boy. "Your mother ceased to be my aunt when she remarried. I'm only doing this because my father has delusions about family attachment."

"But he's iUncle/i Tyko." Protested the boy, who was convinced that he could change the older Jedi's beliefs.

"Go and thank him for letting you call him that, Sunrider." Grumbled the heavyset man.

"Mom told me to do that all the time. She said I'm a lot like my brother in this way." The child mumbled with a trembling voice.

Shock utterly consumed the heavyset Jedi as the words landed on his ears. How nuts did his aunt go? How could she compare this brat to his… no, as much as the man hated to admit it, itheir/i shared childhood hero. In the child's eyes, the man saw many innocent, idealistic delusions typical of the age. For an instant, he wanted to roar at his apprentice all the hideous truths that would have eaten those foolish ideals like acid, but the large, watery eyes began to melt the chunky man from the inside and he turned away his gaze with a mournful sigh. Perhaps, at a much later date, he would unveil his apprentice's eyes with regards to their shared relative, but then was definitely premature. Maybe, if ever, opinions and hidden facts would roll out of the man's mouth when the apprentice has mastered the concept of emotional pain. His lips barely moved as he uttered his soft response. "Do what she says."

When the boy nodded and turned back, the man finally ordered his landing ramp to descend and climbed into the ship. His hand automatically reached for the ignition lever, but he could neither bring his gaze up to meet the displays nor pull the lever down to start the ship, for his encounter with his apprentice left him with heavy thoughts. For a moment, he lingered on the memories of Cay's brother, no, half-brother. The old Jedi was a mere child when Cay's brother waved that silver lightsaber like the family hero he was thought to be. Then, just as Tantal Thul began to mature and see Cay's brother's faults, the beloved cousin suffered a horrible fate that he could never deserve. Had Thul been a weaker man, a tear would have rolled down his rugged cheek.

Thul's thoughts then wandered onto the Cay's mother, who married and had the family hero with his father's older brother, the ill-fated Uncle Bornan. He did not know his aunt as well as his father did, but he knew that her life was filled with heartbreak and tragedy, save one interval that lasted almost two decades. First, she lost her home and her family and many years later, her husband and Raynar, who was her only child at the time. To make matters worse, a small mistake produced an enemy with a rotten temper, who froze her in carbonite for years. When she was finally rescued, she came out weak and frail.

Thul's grip on the lever tightened and his muscles tensed, but he refused to let the lever descend into its proper position. It was his father who rescued the woman he once called aunt, but as a twisted thank you, she left the family by marrying a Jedi named Sunrider, who, despite the surname, actually represented the House of Qel-Droma. Anger burned in his veins, and he carefully raised his mental shields so that his apprentice would not be exposed. The emotional distance of Jedi training and the ways in which Aryn Dro Sunrider doted on her last child had created a naïve idealist in the child, and then was not the time for the optimism to shatter.

The lever finally came down with a heavy crank and the satisfying hum of the engines soon followed. The ship collected its rusted landing ramp and rotated until it faced the hangar's exit. Then its forward propulsion engines reached half of its maximum burn and the ship shot out of the hangar and towards Nal Hutta.

For the first time in a seeming year, Tantal Thul's thoughts returned to his task at hand, which was to infiltrate and dissolve Boulbog the Hutt's criminal activities. It was a dirty job, well suited for a half-Onderonian born of a wealthy nobleman and a rogue warrior. As he punched in the calculations for the hyperspace jump, waves of regret washed over his insides and he, for some inexplicable reason, wished that he took Cay along. As if to accompany Thul's emotions, subtle noises that blended with and yet contrasted the music of the roaring engines temporarily caught the man's attention. He quickly dismissed the noise and sent his ship disappearing into hypserspace.

A thick, sturdy hand slid off the ignition levers and smacked Thul's greasy forehead as he sighed heavily. How had he gotten himself such an impossible task? Warrior of the Onderonian wilds he may be, but bailing out Numa Secura and Nolaa Rar, the previous Jedi spies, and then worming his way into Boulbog's ranks would be suicide, to say the least.


End file.
